Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series of stories that focuses ono people who are making a difference in education in the Arkansas River Valley.

Earlier this year, the Dardanelle School District was selected as one of the 539 schools in the United States and Canada to be placed in the AP District Honor Roll.

It’s a distinction the district earned due to the efforts of all its employees, but the learning process always begins with the teachers. Included in this story are five teachers who have made positive impacts in the lives of their students for many years, and who hope to continuing making an impact for many more.

Kris Ridenhour

For Kris Ridenour, a teacher at Dardanelle High School, there was never even a question that she would become a teacher.

“I don’t ever remember a time when I didn’t know that this was what I was going to do,” she said. “I don’t understand people who don’t have any idea what they want to do with their lives. I can’t relate with them, because I’ve always known.”

That, coupled with her passion for mathematics, paved her a career path early in life: a math teacher.

“Mathematics is almost like games and puzzles,” she said. “It’s a challenge, and I think I really enjoy that challenge. That’s always given me kind of a high, I guess.”

That certainty and passion has carried her through 21 years of teaching, which has seen her change both as a teacher and a person the longer she’s worked in the profession.

“I think the further I go in my career, the more I try to put the ball in [the students’] court, rather than me trying to do a one-size-fits-all lesson,” she said. “The older I get, I think I’m trying harder to see things from other people’s points of view. I can really tell in the last few years of my life, that I try to see where these kids are coming from, and try to understand their situation.”

And, despite teaching difficult subject matter, she finds the job just as rewarding now as she did 21 years ago.

“There’s rarely a day goes by, that I can say I had a bad day today,” she said. “My husband often said that I live for my job, and I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but I’m always eager to get up to go to work.”

Linda Gibson

Linda Gibson’s long career as a kindergarten teacher at Dardanelle Primary School began with visits to her great aunt’s classroom.

“She was a teacher, and I would go to her classroom and it just looked like a lot of fun,” she said.

She began teaching Sunday school and Vacation Bible School and, after enjoying the work, decided to enter the profession.

Gibson has tackled the profession with a love for the kids and a need to always help out where she can, including being on the gifted and talented identification committee, as well as going into the office in the mornings to help answer the phone when it gets busy.

“I enjoy being able to help people and do things for them,” Gibson said. “I just feel like that teaching isn’t just my responsibility, it’s making sure that these kids’ lives are as positive as they can be in the time I have with them. If that means staying with a kid after school because a parent didn’t pick them up on time, I’ll do that.”

“I want to impact their lives in the most positive way I possibly can,” she added.

Gibson recounted the story of a boy who she helped learn how to tie his shoes. When the boy ran into her at the grocery store that summer, he sat down in the middle of the grocery store with her and showed her how to tie his shoe.

Tying one’s shoes might seem like a small accomplishment, but it contributes to a larger picture, one that inculcates a love for learning early in the students’ lives.

“I think that the most important thing is to teach them to love to learn,” she said. “You give them lots of experiences, and let them find things that they’re interested in, and use that as a tool for teaching.”

Jeff Woods

Although he might have not known it at the time, the beginnings of Jeff Woods’ teaching career began with the birth of his son.

“When he got ready to start school, I was in sales, and I decided I wanted to be on the same schedule as he was,” Woods said.

Woods decided to put the biology degree he’d earned to good use, entered the non-traditional teacher-licensure program and landed a teaching job at Dardanelle High School, a job he’s now held for 11 years.

For Woods, it’s been 11 years of memorable moments.

“Every moment’s memorable, honest to goodness,” he said. “When you’re up there teaching, and your back’s turned, and you hear the ‘Aha!’ The, ‘I get it.’ That’s pretty memorable. Seeing the kids out and about, and they’re model citizens, or they’re working hard, that’s a memorable moment.”

The approach to teaching science is an ever-changing one for Woods, who adjusts his methods accordingly for different students.

“For each kid, it’s a different approach,” he said. “I try to keep in mind what they know, their prior knowledge, and help them to learn it in a way that they can hold it. You show the concepts to them, and let them figure it out. Because when they can figure it out, and put it together, that’s when they learn it.”

Part of Woods’ enjoyment from the job comes from familial bonds he’s formed with both the student body and his fellow faculty.

“Each one of these kids, and students, they’re like family,” he said. “Once you have them in class, they’ve got the same bit of discipline that you expect out of your own kids — the same expectations, everything. You treat them the same, and they treat you the way they expect. And the staff is the same way. We’ve all got the same goal.”

Rebekah Avila

Halfway through her seventh year teaching fourth grade at Dardanelle Elementary School, Rebekah Avila is now beginning to see the long-term effect of her work with students learning English as a second language.

“I’ve taught many students who came to the United States who didn’t speak English,” she said. “I had some seven years ago who didn’t speak English, and it’s memorable to see them now, when they’re competent and can speak English.”

But working with non-fluent and illiterate students isn’t the only work Avila does as a teacher, although it is a focus of hers. Before she began working as a teacher, she worked with the literary council helping adults learn how to read.

“At that point, I realized that if those adults could’ve been helped as a child, they never would’ve been in the literary council as an adult having to learn how to read,” she said.

Her dedication has helped her approach with students possessing a dispassion towards reading — getting students to read can be a challenge, but for Avila, that makes it all the more rewarding.

“That’s the payoff for all the countless hours that are spent not just teaching but planning and preparing what you teach,” she said. “I often get reluctant readers, and by the end of the year, they’re avid readers. And that’s very rewarding.”

Avila employs a varied, discussion-based approach to her classroom teaching based on the multifaceted needs of her students.

“Everyone has a different way that they learn things, whether it’s visual, auditory, or kinesthetic,” she said. “I think that learning is social, so I make sure they’re talking, and engaged, and sharing what they’re learning.”

“She’s just a hard worker,” said Terry Laughinghouse, principal of Dardanelle Elementary. “The kids know that she loves them and cares about them. She’s a joy to work with.”

Amy Montgomery

Principal John David Keeling put it best when describing Amy Montgomery, an eighth-grade math teacher at Dardanelle Middle School.

“She has a great passion for the kids and a great passion for the subject area,” he said. “She’s a complete team player. Anything we ever ask, she’s Johnny on the spot.”

Montgomery’s passion keeps her constantly striving to become better at her job. When school lets out for summer, students enjoy three months away from classes, but Montgomery hardly gives herself a break.

“During the summer, all my free time is spent going to classes and trying to learn new techniques and new things to bring back to my classroom, to help make the learning fun and interesting,” she said. “As a teacher, you need to stay current. You’re always a learner.”

These classes have helped Montgomery create a classroom environment that seeks to re-label math as a fun and fruitful school of thought.

“Whenever kids come into my classroom, I want them to put away their negative thoughts and feelings about math and just leave the negativity at the door,” she said. “I want to make learning fun, and make it a positive environment where they can explore and develop their understandings, and become more mathematical problem solvers in life.”

As a result, Montgomery has plenty of success stories.

“The thing that matters most to me is when students have been bad students in the past, then they say, ‘Oh, I get this, I understand this.’ It’s about a kid gaining confidence in themselves, and seeing the light bulb come on.”